I think Dylan's ears are a bit fluffy and dull because he still has puppy fluff on them but our trainer says it's old dead hair and needs some work and that they are tatty.

I brush them every day and was told by my breeder to use good quality human shampoo and conditioner. I use Aussie Mega as that turned my hair from dull to very shiny with no build up in a week. This has helped after two uses on Dylan.

Is there anything else I should be doing? Or will they get stronger adult fur later? :flwr:

GudrunTheRed

20th March 2007, 04:08 PM

A good shampoo and conditioner will help, but when Chester was at that "awkward" age I would just brush the heck out of his coat and ears every day. I also like using a good grooming spritz with yummy stuff like lavendar in it and that makes the hair nice and shiny without making it limp. The 2 brands that I recommend are Cain & Able All Natural Between Bath Spritz https://secure.cainandablecollection.com/BathProducts.asp?ID=1001 and Buddy Splash Spritz https://www9.mailordercentral.com/cloudstar/prodinfo.asp?number=W1540

Now that I have the Furminator he has a very shiny coat since that thing takes out all the dead hair. I wish I had known about it when he was a pup!

Between the spritzes and the Furminator my Chester is much sleeker and shinier.

Mom_of_2_Cavies

20th March 2007, 04:24 PM

Which size furminator do you use? I've been looking at them on and off for quite a while and it's time to get one.

GudrunTheRed

20th March 2007, 04:45 PM

Pat,

I have the smallest one with the blue handle and it works very nicely.

inca

20th March 2007, 06:24 PM

i was always told human shampoo has the wrong PH balance for dogs as its ment for human hair..........i would invest in a good dog shampoo and see if that helps ..for the blens i use chris christensen white on white and ice on ice conditioner :flwr:

Cicero's Mummy

20th March 2007, 06:55 PM

I would be VERY careful using human shampoo on the doggie!

You could always ask your vet about Mane and Tail... it is used on horses, but I have seen some use it on thier dog with wonderful results... again, I would ask your vet or groomer for thier professional opinion before using ANYTHING not specifically recommended for use on dogs.

Laura&Lia

20th March 2007, 07:03 PM

Hi,

I'm thinking about getting one Furminator. How often do you use it on your puppys coats?

:flwr:

Claire

20th March 2007, 07:11 PM

Pauline, he's ears look fine from the avatar - Woodys and Ozzys still have that fluff in them, they get brush every couple of days, and the shampoo I use is a still clean dog shampoo from Tesco or Pets at Home. I would'nt worry about if they are shiny or not at the moment until he starts really getting his adult coat properly.

Mom_of_2_Cavies

21st March 2007, 02:55 AM

Pat,

I have the smallest one with the blue handle and it works very nicely.

Thank you! That's the one I was thinking would be most useful, so it's good to have that confirmed.

Caraline

21st March 2007, 04:29 AM

our trainer says it's old dead hair and needs some work and that they are tatty.

All hair is dead. There is no such a thing as live hair. Same as toenails.

I brush them every day and was told by my breeder to use good quality human shampoo and conditioner. I use Aussie Mega as that turned my hair from dull to very shiny with no build up in a week. This has helped after two uses on Dylan.

I thought you were not supposed to use human shampoo on dogs. Doesn't their skin have a different Ph to ours?

Anyway, I think Dylan's ears look fine. He looks great to me :D

judy

21st March 2007, 04:56 AM

i think he looks excellent in all of his pictures.

i got a blue furminator long long ago. I had seen their ad on the web (video of piles of hair coming off a dog); when i used it on Zack, hardly any hair came off. I guess i wasn't doing it right?

Then, it was being discussed on Cavaliertalk and a couple of people said that you can damage their coat using a furminator--i think. My memory is hazy now. I never used mine again after that.

freesia

21st March 2007, 08:51 AM

Looks good when I saw a video of a goldie getting done but I find it a bit confusing. One page said it does not cut the hair, went onto another site and it said it could last 20yr without ever need sharpened, so maybe it does cut. :? I used to use a slicker brush on my goldie and get a lot of hair off him with that.

Harvey's Mum

21st March 2007, 09:29 AM

Hi Everyone

When we had a Rottweiler he had a lot of dull hair under his top coat that would just pull out in lumps, and once when we took him to the vets for an annual checkup the vet recommended to use a very fine tooth axe haw blade, which seemed very extreme, but we gave it a go very carefully at first and it worked wonders his coat was amazing and the amount of dull hair that came out was astonishing. May I just say this was advice from a vet not me. I was just wondering if anyone else had heard of this.

Anna (Mum of Harvey)

*Pauline*

21st March 2007, 10:54 AM

:thnku: everyone.

I tried a good dog shampoo and found it dried his hair out. Dylan's beeder is also a qualified groomer and has her own grooming parlour, she recomended the human shampoo, he isn't itchy and it has improved the coat. I didn't know the PH balance would be wrong but it doesn't cause any problems. I use baby shapoo on his face though so it doesn't hurt his eyes.

I personally think it's just his puppy coat as Claire said. I'm now going to look at all the products you recomended.

:sl*p: Caraline, silly me, you're right all hair is dead!

Shay

21st March 2007, 03:48 PM

Kinda off subject and I don't mean to hijack the thread, but when do they start losing their winter coat? Lily is shedding really badly right now, which she didn't do all winter. Is she shedding her puppy coat (she's 7 mos) or winter coat or both?

*Pauline*

21st March 2007, 04:41 PM

Cain & Able All Natural Between Bath Spritz has Citronella oil in it, can't stand the smell of that and Buddy Splash Spritz is $45.00 international shipping :yikes It sounded really nice too, I'll try and find it on a UK site. :flwr:

GudrunTheRed

21st March 2007, 05:25 PM

Cain & Able All Natural Between Bath Spritz has Citronella oil in it, can't stand the smell of that and Buddy Splash Spritz is $45.00 international shipping :yikes It sounded really nice too, I'll try and find it on a UK site. :flwr:

Good lord that's a lot for shipping!

As for the citronella, I don't like the smell either. I just took a big sniff of the Cain & Able and I smell lavender, tea tree oil and the eucalyptus but can't smell that weird citronella smell that I get from my patio candles. As long as the lavender is the high note I'm happy.

I'm sure you can find some other natural spritzes in your local shops. Just don't get the perfume ones...those are gross.

GudrunTheRed

21st March 2007, 05:26 PM

Hi,

I'm thinking about getting one Furminator. How often do you use it on your puppys coats?

:flwr:

I use the Furminator once a month and that's plenty to keep his shedding under control. All other times I just use his normal metal greyhound comb or a regular brush.

GudrunTheRed

21st March 2007, 05:27 PM

Kinda off subject and I don't mean to hijack the thread, but when do they start losing their winter coat? Lily is shedding really badly right now, which she didn't do all winter. Is she shedding her puppy coat (she's 7 mos) or winter coat or both?I didn't think Cavaliers had winter coats, so it's probably just her puppy coat.

Shay

21st March 2007, 05:34 PM

I love this site. I had no idea they didn't have winter coats. Thanks!